1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method and apparatus for preparing and transmitting electronic program information multiplexed with video and audio signals. Also, the present invention relates to an apparatus for producing an electronic program guide from the electronic program information multiplexed with the video and audio signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In digital satellite broadcasting, a video signal and an audio signal are broadcast from a central station to a plurality of terminals according to the Moving Picture Experts Group 2 (MPEG2). In the MPEG2, video and audio signals are multiplexed with each other into a packet in the central station, and a plurality of packets are transmitted to each terminal in the form of a transport stream (TS) representing a transmission line. In this case, electronic program information prescribed in the MPEG2 and DVB is transmitted with the video and audio signals. The electronic program information includes both control information, used to reproduce the video and audio signals multiplexed with each other, and electronic program guide information, used to prepare an electronic program guide. The electronic program guide information is described in a form of a section type table, and the section type is prescribed in MPEG2 and DVB.